Organic Producer Profiles (Louisiana)

Pastime Farms, LLC: Roseland, Louisiana

A Louisiana local, Russell Roy began
with a degree in agriculture and
chemistry and a dream of distributing
only the freshest, highest quality produce.
Pastime Farms, on 105 acres, is
now the largest certified organic farm
in Louisiana and produces from May
through November. It has 95 linear
miles of 35 different vegetables, 2000
berry bushes, and 1200 fig trees, all
certified organic by Quality Certification
Systems. Russell Roy claims not
only the most organic produce in Louisiana
but also the freshest. Pastime
Farms’ pledge is, “The only way that
they’re gonna get it any fresher is by
going out there themselves, picking it off the trees, and eating it.” Pastime
Farms was started in 1998 with a handful of employees, has grown
significantly since then, and is currently growing exponentially.

Russell does his own marketing through his Web site (www.nolaorganics.
com), TV, 17 magazines, 6 newspapers, newsletters, educational programs
at local schools, developing a school age coloring book for students,
and an agri-tourism program at the farm. Produce is marketed to
restaurants and wholesalers, at farmers’ markets and a produce stand,
and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) project. Customers
can find the farm on-line at www.nolaorganics.com and purchase
shares to receive an allotment of production, with fresh produce delivered
weekly within 36 hours of harvest. The CSA currently has 400 members
and a 70% renewal rate. Russell’s goal is 500 members.

Russell makes compost based on local chicken litter. He reports minimal
use of off-farm pest control inputs, relying primarily on garlic extract.
No plastic mulch is used. One-row cultivation is used to control weeds.
Russell also rebuilds antique Allis Chalmers tractors, which he uses on
Pastime Farm. Over the years he has amassed one of the largest working
antique Allis-Chalmers tractor collections in the country.

Produce sales contacts:
New Orleans and North Shore area
Matt, Field Sales Manager
985-246-9685 sales@nolaorganics.com

EquiTerra Farm: Clinton, Louisiana

Paul Davidson had
a dream 29 years
ago when he and his
wife, Maria, bought a
worn-out farmstead in
the rolling hills of East
Feliciana Parish, in
southeast Louisiana.
EquiTerra Farm continues
to be “a work in
progress.” With both
Davidsons employed full-time as wildlife biologists—Maria as a Biologist
Manager for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and
Paul as the Executive Director of the Black Bear Conservation Committee—
the farm sometimes takes a back seat.

From the onset, Paul sought to manage his crops and land “in concert
with nature.” In the early 1980s, he planted more than an acre of Rabbiteye
blueberries and managed them, and his market garden, using
organic methods, but was not officially certified. By the time Baton
Rouge’s Red Stick Farmers’ Market opened in 1996, Paul was ready to
apply for organic certification from the Louisiana Department of Agriculture
and Forestry. They classified Paul’s blueberry fields as “transitional
organic” and his market garden as “organic.” With the advent of the
NOP, the Davidsons had to recertify their farm. In the summer of 2005,
they were completing their paperwork to become certified organic with
the Louisiana state program.

Over time, the Davidsons have expanded and added new components to
the farm, evaluating each for future planning. The high demand for their
produce at the farmers’ market allowed them to expand their market garden
from 0.5 to 1.75 acres. Produce includes beans, peppers, tomatoes,
potatoes, corn, okra, cucumbers, squash, strawberries, eggplant, and
herbs in the summer, with lettuce mixes, high quality greens, broccoli,
cabbage, cauliflower, carrots, and other crops grown in the fall and winter.
A mixed-power farm, much of the land management is done using
their three Belgian draft horses. Besides produce, they also raise and process about 400 pastured broilers each year, with plans to expand.
They also maintain about 50 laying hens, selling the eggs directly from
the farm and at the market.

In 2004, they fenced an additional nine acres of pasture and crossfenced
to accommodate meat goats and Katahdin sheep. They plan to
expand their herd by keeping female kids and lambs and selling the
males until they have 20 ewes and 20 does. Their goats will be bred to
include Spanish, Tennessee Meat Goat, Kiko, and Boer bloodlines, with
breeding does being no more than 50% Boer. Sheep will be upgraded by
purchasing better stock and using first-class rams. Besides having access
to pasture, the sheep and goats are allowed to browse on privet and Chinese
elm in the understory of the 75 acres of forested land on the farm.

In 2005, eight CSA shares were sold to investigate CSA marketing.
Intentionally starting on a small scale to evaluate potential problems, the
Davidsons are happy with the way it worked and will probably expand to
about 20 shares in 2006. The overall objective of EquiTerra Farm, LLC,
is “to be a model sustainable farmstead to show others, especially young
farmers, that a decent and honest living can be made on a small farm,
working with the land and not against it.” To encourage young farmers,
the Davidsons regularly have interns working on the farm. They are also
making their farm available as an outdoor environmental and agricultural
classroom for students in a nearby Montessori school that their twoyear-old son, Mark, will be attending when he gets older.